


Go on, Gimme a Reason

by Medie



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: fandom_stocking, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-04
Updated: 2012-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-28 21:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/312444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"And then we save the world?"</p><p>"No, we teach it to save its own damn self."</p><p>"And get killed in the process."</p><p>"The way the world's going, honey, that was going to happen anyway."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Go on, Gimme a Reason

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EllieMurasaki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/gifts).



It started with her brother. Riley's disappearance never did sit right with her. It isn't supposed to, she knows that, but she can't accept it either. She keeps looking, digging, following into it on her days off and after work.

"Never did know when to leave well enough alone, did you?"

If she hears it once, she hears it a hundred times, and after that, Kathleen stops listening. Riley was her responsibility. Mom and Dad drilled that into her head by the time she was eight. "Look after your brother, Kathleen," would be her mother and right after, her father would chime in with, "Now you mind your brother, Kathleen, you know how Riley can get."

Yeah, she knows. She also knows this isn't him. He'd call. He _always_ called. She covered for him when she had to. "It's like the Secret Service, Mom," she'd say. "If I tell you what I know, he won't trust me, and I can't look after him then, now can I?"

They laughed at it then, but Kathleen clings to it now. "He'd call," she tells the empty room at night, when the weight of the search presses down on her and she feels the judgment of the whole goddamn town sitting atop that. "He'd _call_." Someone took him. Someone or something.

And that's the admission that starts it.

It's that admission, that quiet acceptance in the dark, that she blames for Missouri showing up on her door.

"You're right, you know," she says, brisk as as a winter wind, brushing into the house. "Someone took him."

"Who are you?"

Missouri drops her bag on the floor. "To my undying frustration, I'm usually the only person in the room with any idea what's going on. You know how much I hate that? Do I look like Miss Cleo to you—and you should be warned, if you say yes, I'm turning around and walking out of here and you can just deal with the works of it yourself and, trust me, you don't want to be dealing with this yourself."

"Okay, but can I get a name before we damn me for all eternity?"

"Oh hush, the whole point of this is to avoid the damnation, and I'm Missouri."

Bewildered is more like, but Kathleen has a feeling she should probably get used to it. Especially since after that first night (when she lets Missouri stay because, well, it just seems easier than trying to throw her out) Missouri doesn't go anywhere and, worse, starts talking about demons. Demons. Vampires. Werewolves.

"Everything we try telling ourselves doesn't exist is out there and probably wants to eat you." Missouri's bluster, probably her trademark, is absent for that conversation. They have it after breakfast, mercifully since it kills any appetite that Kathleen might have had. "Worst of it is the part where it thinks women are the tastiest. A friend of mine thinks it's because we're special, given to creating life within ourselves and all that, but I don't. Me, I figure it's because most of the time, most men just aren't gonna care all that much."

Kathleen nods and sips at her coffee. It's gone cold and she pushes it aside. "So?"

"I got tired of it. Playing wise old woman to a bunch of boys who can't see past the end of their own trauma." Missouri sighs and sits back. "Not that they haven't got a right to their pain, but they're not the ones getting ripped apart are they? I'm too old and too tired to do out there and do it myself, but nobody said nothing about recruiting a little help."

"Which is where I come in," Kathleen says. She looks at her coffee, frowns, and gets up to refill it. "I suppose I'm going to be some kind of general?"

"Hardly, that'd be me. When was the last time you saw a general grab a gun and run out on the field? _That_ is where you come in."

"My brawn and your brains?" Kathleen pours a mug for Missouri as well. "And then we save the world?"

"No, we teach it to save its own damn self."

"And get killed in the process."

"The way the world's going, honey, that was going to happen anyway."

Missouri's weary comment makes Kathleen think of Riley. She sighs. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't do it myself."

"Never said you'd have to." Missouri puts down her mug. Her hand is warm from the coffee when she pats Kathleen's. "There's a whole host of ladies out there just looking for a reason, even if most of them don't know it yet, and we are going to show them they've got all the reasons they need."


End file.
